Week 8 assignment: essay – interrelationships reflection apa format | Applied Sciences homework help
- Because the Pyramid of Cheops (Figure 5-6), the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, and The Taj Mahal are all mausoleums, is it possible to think of these buildings as revelatory of memorials to the dead? Which is more instantly recognizable as func- tioning as a tomb? What might they reveal about attitudes toward death? continued
jac16871_ch06_121-162.indd 149 12/11/17 11:49 AM High-Rises and Skyscrapers Some of the most dramatic examples of the combination of types occur when tradi- tional architecture is fused with contemporary architecture, as happens quite often in China and Malaysia. With a population of over 8 million and rapidly growing, closely crowded around a huge and superb port, Kuala Lumpur had Argentine ar- chitect Cesar Pelli design the Petronas Towers (Figure 6-28), which was the tallest building in the world in 1996 and is still the tallest twin towers in the world. From outside, the buildings of Hong Kong as a conglomerate appear overwhelm- ingly sky-oriented. Most of the skyscrapers appear to penetrate the heavens, aided in their thrust by the uplift of the background mountains. Photographs cannot do justice to this effect. The earthly tops of the Shanghai high-rise type are rare, and the Hong Kong buildings generally are considerably higher than those of Shanghai. “Skyscraper” more than “high-rise” more accurately describes these Hong Kong buildings. Some- times verticality stretches so powerfully that even the diagonal struts of I. M. Pei’s Bank of China Tower (Figure 6-29)—one of the tallest buildings in Hong Kong—may appear to stretch imaginatively beyond the top of the roof into vertical straight lines. The Taj Mahal is one of the most famous buildings in the world. It was built as a monument to Shah Jehan’s third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631. When you look at the building, its form is dazzling and com- pelling, but what is its function? What are the first thoughts that come to mind? For one thing, the mina- rets at the corner of the site were designed to be used for the call to prayer, so it is reasonable to think of the building as a mosque. There is a separate mosque on the grounds of The Taj Mahal, but The Taj Mahal itself is a mausoleum, a tomb that houses Shah Jehan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal, finished in 1648. The main level holds two sarcophagi (marble burial vaults) that are richly decorated with Arabic religious scripts, but because Islamic law prohibits elaborate decorations on the actual coffins, both Shah Jehan and Mumtaz Mahal are buried in simpler sarcophagi on a lower level, with their faces turned toward Mecca. Shah Jehan constructed many buildings during his reign over the Mughal Empire in India. The Mughals, descendants of Mongols living in Turkestan, became Muslims in the fifteenth century. Notable for their arts, architecture, and respect for religious freedom, they dominated India in the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries. Their influences were Persian, as illustrated in the “onion” dome of the building, Islamic as illustrated by the copious script acting as decorative features throughout, and Indian as illustrated by the arched doors and windows. The majority population, Hindu citizens, were treated fairly, but the undoing of the great Mughal Empire came with the rise of Shah Jehan’s son Aurangzeb, who imposed strict Sharia law on the entire populace and thus doomed the Mughals, whose empire was weak- ened by revolts and internal decay lasting another century and a half. FIGURE 6-27 The Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. 1653. Shah Jehan, the Mughal emperor, built The Taj in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631. One of the most visited buildings in the world, it is in some danger because of the subsidence of a nearby river. Its architect, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri, was one of thousands of craftsmen and designers who finished the primary building in a little more than fifteen years. ©Seb c’est bien/Shutterstock RF 150 jac16871_ch06_121-162.indd 150 12/11/17 11:49 AM 151
ARCHITECTURE
From inside the city, the architectural impressions of Hong Kong are generally another story (Figure 6-30). The skyscrapers usually abut, crowd, mirror, and slant into each other, often from odd angles, blocking a full view, closing and overwhelm- ing the spaces between. Unlike New York City, where the grid of broad straight avenues provides breathing room for the skyscraper, the narrow crooked streets that dominate Hong Kong rarely allow for more than truncated views of the build- ings. Except on the waterfront, only small patches of the sky are usually visible. The skyscrapers press down. Gravity is overbearing. Sometimes the atmosphere is FIGURE 6-28 Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Cesar Pelli, 1993– 1996. The tallest twin towers in the world, these buildings are influenced by the traditional Buddhist temples that were common in Southeast Asia. The influence links temples of spiritual contemplation with temples of business. ©lim_atos/123rf.com jac16871_ch06_121-162.indd 151 12/11/17 11:49 AM 152
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FIGURE 6-29 I. M. Pei, Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong. 1982–1990. At seventy- two stories high, this is Hong Kong’s tallest building. One of Pei’s challenges was to satisfy the needs of feng shui, the proper positioning of the building and its angles. ©QT Luong/terragalleria.com FIGURE 6-30 Cityscape in Hong Kong. The crowding of buildings is typical in this small city. ©Michel Setboun/The Image Bank/Getty Images jac16871_ch06_121-162.indd 152 12/11/17 11:49 AM 153
ARCHITECTURE
claustrophobic. Inside Hong Kong the skyscrapers are usually more earth-dominat- ing than sky-oriented. In New York City there are a few areas of this kind, but even there, Park Avenue provides an extensive clearing. PERCEPTION KEY High-Rises in Asia 1. Examine the top structures of the high-rises in Hong Kong. Are these tops hor- izontally oriented as with the Seagram Building (Figure 6-6), or are they more vertically oriented as with The Taj Mahal?